I recently watched “The Kite Runner,” and was impressed by Amir’s father’s comments on sin.  Here they are:

 ”Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft… When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness… There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir.”

 In our criminal law class today we heard from the director of the Springfield, Vermont (Home of the Simpsons movie premiere) restorative justice program and a victims advocate from Windsor county, Vermont where our professor is also the state’s attorney. 

 The presentation by the RJ program Director brought that quote to my mind… It was interesting… both from a religious perspective (we’re simultaneously discussing the establishment and free-exercise clauses in Constitutional Law), and from a criminal perspective. 

Is there just one crime?  Is that crime theft?  It brings to mind the assertion made by some that “property is theft.”  We talk of time being a thief.  Death comes like a thief in the night. 

Is thievery… or the deprivation of another of his rights to some thing … the foundational element to all crime?  Or do all crimes simply share this element?  I don’t know and I assert nothing, but I find it interesting to think about. 

My wife and I think we have found a house that is a little closer to the law school, a little cheaper and that will perhaps allow me to have an enclosed space to work on our cars when needed.  I sold my spare car last night (ah, craigslist)… and my chimney clogged… so we’re paying for propane heat instead of the wood stove heat we’re used to.  Now that I think of it though, I think they both vent through the same chimney, so perhaps we’ve traded death by smoke inhalation for a more silent death by carbon monoxide.  It is finally warmer today.  Supposed to get up to 65… but that’s a vicious rumor. 

OK, well should be getting back to all the things I need to do… none of which is this (for now).